Paper-blank feeder



June 25', 1929. s. F. TOJEK 1.718.318

PAPER BLANR FEEDER Filed Aug. 2, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet [N V EN TOR.

A TTORNE Y.

June 25, 1929. s. F. TOJEK 1.718.318

PAPER BLANK FEEDER Filed Aug. 2, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 In W A TTORNE Y.

June 25, 1929. s, TOJEK 1,7]8318 PAPER BLANK FEEDER Filed Aug. 2, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 5 W 7 INVENTOR.

A JTTORNEY.

Patented June 25, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN F. TOJ'EK, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO STEPHEN F. TOJ'EK AND PHILIP TOJEK, COPARTNERS DOING BUSINESS UNDER THE FIRM NAME 'AND STYLE OF TOJEK BROTHERS, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. i

PAPER-BLANK FEEDER.

Application filed August 2, 1926. Serial No. 126,431.

definite numbers or in substantially equal numbers for each delivery and without wastmg the blanks or allowing them to clog the machine by displacement.

pose having been designed along the lines of feeders for handling packages or card-board disks which are thicker and more rigid and which therefore do not present the same problems that are met inthe handling of thin paper disks, such for example, as those used in the manufacture of bon bon cups and paper liners for confectionery holders, etc. More particularly, therefore, my object is to provide a form of separator which will successfully separate and deliver without waste definite numbers of paper blanks from the bottom of a pile where the blanksra-nge in thickness from that of tissue paperto that of ordinary writing paper and other'paper of the character commonly used for confectionery cups. 1

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a paper feeding machine embodying my'invention. f I

Figure 2.is a side elevation of the working portions of the feederin associated relation to the table.

Figure 3 is a plan view of ,thepaper separator or feeding disk.-

Figures 4 and 5 are sectional views drawn respectively onlines 44 and 5'5 of Fig-,

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

The table 1 is provided with a set of posts 2, 3, and 4 adapted to support a vertical column or stack of paper blanks 5 which may be assumed to'comprise a series of superposed thin paper disks such as are used in the manufacture of bon bon cups. Below this pile or stack of blanks the table 1 has a circular aperture 6 through which the paper blanks may dropbut are normally prevented from doing so by an interposed disk shaped separator 7 which is adapted when oscillated to separate a set of blanks from the pile, deliver them through the opening 6 into a receiving cavity 8 formed in a rotary carrier 9 located underneath the table top. This carrier9 contains a series of cavities 8 and it is rotated step by step to bring the cavities successively into registry with the opening v6 in the table, during the intervals between feeding operations of the separator 7. c It will be observed that the posts 2, 3, and 4 are anchored at their lower ends in a removable ring 10 which forms the wall of the aperture 6 and which is removably interlocked with or countersunk in the. table and supported by the shoulder 11; The separator is rotatively mounted on the post 2 and is oscillated about this shaft by a cam 14 arranged to actuate a lever 15 connected with a crank p irn 16 on the separator 7 by a connecting rod 1 The separator is provided with a radially extending notch at 19, one side wall or :1 margin 20 of this notch preferably follows a radial line. The other side wall or margin is curved at 22 and is straight at 24, the straight portion extending divergently from its junction at 25 with the curved portion 22to the periphery of-the disk anddivergently from the radialiline of the margin 20. A separating tooth is therefore formed at 25 and this tooth projects upwardly and has a beveled under surface whereby the margins of the tooth including the point are sharpcedged to readily penetrate between the paper. disks whenpushed against the side of the pile or stack of blanks. The relation of the tooth 25 to the opposing margin 20 of the notch 19 is clearly illustrated in Figure 4. I prefer to form the tooth 25 and the marginal portions 22 and 24 of the separator as a separate member or-knife 28 having a supportingflange 29 secured in a shallow recess n the upper surface of the separator 7 by screws or rivets 30 and 31. The recess 19 in the body of the i smooth peripheral surface past the registerseparator therefore extends from the margin QOto the opposing margin of the body as indiated by thedotted line 32 in Figure 3 and also as shown in Figure 4t, but the lower surface of the body of the separator is beveled or tapered in conformity with the beveled or tapered lower surface of the knife 28 and the object of employing a separable knife instead of making the member 7 in one pieceto include the knife is to facilitate manufacture, to allow the use of tool steel for the knife portion, and to permit the removal and replacement .of the knife when damaged or worn'or to facilitate removing and grinding the knife when dull.

It will be observed'tha t the radial diameter of the separator 7 is slightly less than the distance between the post 2 and the other stack supporting posts 3 and 4 whereby the separator may oscillate to carry the knife under the stack of paper disks as clearly shown in Figure 1. V V

The carrier 9 is provided with a peripheral roll of gear teeth with gaps 36 at intervals of 90, a mutilated gear wheel 37 is employed to actuatethe carrier step by step in quarter turn movements, the teeth 38 on the mutilated gear wheel being sutlicient in number to move the carrier 9 90 and then allow it to remain at rest during a period equal to the time required for the gear wheel 37 to carry its ing gap 36in the carrier 9. The gear wheel 37' is connected by chain 40 on sprocket wheels ll and 42 'withthe cam shaft 43 and the arrangement'is such that the carrier 9 will be at rest during the interval that the knife 28 is being moved through the stack by oscillation of the separator 7 and returned tonormal position with the body of the separator supporting the stack of paper. Thereupon the teeth 38 will again be brought into engagement with the next set of teeth on the carrier 9 and the latter-oscillated at another quarter.

From the foregoing description the operation' of the machine will be readily understood, but it will be briefly'summarized as follows :A stack of paper disks being in position between the posts 2, 3, and 4t and the ma chine set in'op'eration the knife will be re tracted from its position as shown in Figure 1 by the cam 14 until the knife is wholly with-' drawn from beneath the stack of paper, the pile of paper'being-then supported by the body of the separator 7 back of themargin 20. Thecarrier 9 will. then be revolved oneeighth of a turn and the next cavity 8 in its upper surface presented in' a position to receive a set of disks from the stack or pile. The carrier then comes to restand the knife 28 passes through the pile of paper disks above the bottom of the pile separating a set or series of disks, the number of which clepends upon the vertical distance between a horizontal plane of the body at the margin plane above said wall.

20 of the recess. As the knife passes through the stack the separated disks are allowed to dro 'i underneath it and are received in the registering cayityS of the carrier 9; If the separated blanks do not drop during this movement they will do so immediately when theseparator oscillates in the reverse direction, this retractive oscillation .occurringimincdiately after *the separating operation. The retractive movement of the separator 7 v is facilitated by a tension spring lat which holds the lever 15 with its anti-friction roller. at?) in contact with the periphery of the cam throughout the revolution ofthe latter. T his, however, is merely incidental to the type of cam illustrated and avoids the necessity of providing a cam with a groovein its side face to receive rollerstfi, both types of cam being well known in the art.

After the separator 7 has been oscillated to carry the knife through the stack and then retracted to a position with thestack supported on the body 7 back of the margin 20, carrier 9 will be oscillated one-eighth of a turn to carry the separated sheets or blanks out'from under the pile or stack and to present an empty cavity Sin position to receive the next set of blanks to be separated. It is not material to this invention where the blanks are then carried nor how they are delivered through an opening in thebed within which the carrier revolves in accordance with ordinary pr'actice' It will be observed inFigure 5 that the body of the separator 7 is annularly thickened in the zone lying midway between its axis and the periphery, the upper and lower surfaces sloping convergingly' bothin the direction of the axis and in'the direction of the periphery whereby the body is convexly' roundedalong radial lines as to both its top and bottom surfaces. 4

I claim: r

1.. A separator for delivering sets of superposed'thin paper blanks from the bottomof-the pile, comprising'an oscillatory disk provided with a radially" extending notch,"'aradially disposed knife projecting into the space provided by said notch and having a sharp edged tooth, the point of} which extendsitoward the opposing wall of the notch between the periphery of the disk and its axis and upwardly to a horizontal 2. .A separator for delivering sets of superposed thin paper blanks from the bottom of a pile, comprising an oscillatory disk provided with a radially extending notch, a radially disposed knife projecting into the space provided by said notch and havinga sharp edged tooth projecting from the central portion of the knife edge at a substantial distance from the circlein which theouter mar- 'ginofthe' disk travels, thepoint of said tooth extending toward the opposing wall of the notch between the disk axis and the circle in which the outer margin of the disk travels and upwardly to a horizontal plane above said wall, and the under surface of the knife being beveled upwardly and in the direction of said opposing wall of the notch.

3. A separator for delivering sets of superposed thin paper blanks from the bottom of a pile, comprising an oscillatory disk provided with a radially extending notch, a radially disposed knife projecting into the space provided by said notch and having a sharp edged tooth, the point of which extends toward the opposing wall of the notch and upwardly to a horizontal plane above said wall, said knife being detachably secured to the body portion of the separator, said knife and body portions having smooth upper surfaces for contact with paper blanks.

4. A separator for delivering sets of superposed thin paper blanks from the bottom of a pile comprising an oscillatory disk provided with a radially extending notch, a radially disposed knife projecting into the space provided by said notch and having a sharp edged tooth in the middle portion of one side wall of the notch, the point of which tooth extends toward the opposing walls of the notch and upwardly to a horizontal plane above said wall, and means for oscillating said separator to carry the knife through the pile of blanks and retract it from beneath the pile, the opposing wall of the notch being in suflicient proximity to the knife to pass underneath and support the pile of blanks when the knife is retracted.

5. A separator for delivering sets of superposed paper blanks from the bottom of a pile, comprising a magazine for the pile of sheets, an oscillatory blade pivotally supported to swing in a horizontal plane through the pile of blanks, and a pivoted oscillatory support adapted to swing to and from a position underneath the pile in alternation to the movement of the blade, said magazine comprising a series of posts, one of which serves as an axial mounting for the blade.

6. A separator for delivering sets of super posed paper blanks from the bottom of a pile, comprising a magazine for the pile of sheets an oscillatory blade pivotally supported to swing in a horizontal plane through the pile of blanks, and a pivoted oscillatory support adapted to swing to and from a position underneath the pile in alternation to the movement of the blade,-said magazine comprising a series of posts, one of which serves as an axial mounting for the blade and said blade and support comprising a radially notched disk having a raised radially extending edge, provided with a beveled under surface.

7. The combination with a set of upright posts constituting a magazine adapted tore- V ceive a pile of superposed blanks, of a supporting member for the blanks pivoted to one of the posts and normally extending substantially across the magazine underneath the pile, said supporting member having a notch extending from the vicinity of its pivotal axis to its outer margin, and provided at one side of the notch with a radially extending blade having an elevated edge provided with a tooth positioned for passage through the central portion of the pile of blanks when the supporting member is oscillated, and means for oscillating the supporting member to carry the blade through the pile of blanks near the bottom of the pile and to alternately support the pile by portions of said oscillatory member on opposite sides of said notch.

STEPHEN F. TOJEK. 

